Varie-Tea is the Spice of Life

"Variety: A number of different kinds; the abscence of monotony or sameness."

I was reading this morning in my tiny little pocket devotional that my mother gave me. It has this delightful little cover with a delicate china cup full of peonies. All of the devotions are based on "tea. "

(that picture is obviously not the cover. It's one of my paintings).

Those that know me, know that I love tea and coffee and any hot drink inbetween. It's due to my mother who is a tea lover herself. My two true vises in life are a cup of tea and a good book. (oh, and some really good chocolate).

This mornings little devotional struck me though. It talked about how there are so many people in the world, but most of us are trying to copy or follow each other to fit in. We follow the same well-worn rut of our peticular society trying not to look too different ot act to differently than those around us.

I can remember growing up and LOVING the book Little Women mostly because of the character Jo. It was an even bigger bonus that my middle name was Jo as well. I remember crying right along with her when she lamented about how she just didn't seem to fit in. Everything that was expected of her (and all women in society at that time) was not how she was made. She was passionate, outspoken, impetuous, and a deep feeler. She wore her emotions on her sleeve. She hungered for adventure and didn't care so much if she was around the same social class as her family.

I wanted so badly to fit in, so badly that I even tried cheerleading one year of HS. Bad. Bad Bad. THe practice and cheers and the girls I cheered with were fun, but I soooooooooo did not like getting up in front of the crowd and encouraging spirit participation. Not my thing at all. Not to mention, I am so uncoordinated and lack much of any ability to memorize sequences and chants and all that stuff. Disasterous.



We need as Believers (I need) to look and act different than those around us...not in a "I'm better than you" way. But in a way, with grace and love and forgiveness. It's something God has been working on my lately. I'm a judger by personality. I'm not gracious, even though my name meaning says I am. I am intensly loyal and have difficulty not holding a grudge (for a very long time) when I feel abandoned. I have a quick tongue that is far to sharp. Yet, God has been stripping me these last 2 years of a lot of what I have held dear. Things that I should not hold onto.



He has been teaching me a lot about Grace and what that means. What does it mean to ask for forgiveness if I've wronged someone? What does it mean to forgive? Do I look that different than the rest of the world or am I trying to walk to the same beat as everyone else? How am I spending my day so that I ultimately glorify my Master? How am I training my children to bring Him glory? What do I need to get rid of, or invite in, in order to do a better job?



I want people to be able to look at me and my family and say they can see God's grace in us. I want to be that different spice of Christian that points people to God instead of them taking a whiff and then bolting for the opposite direction.



"Taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the [one] who takes refuge in him." Psalm 34:8